Genetic Variants Identified for Risk of Male Breast Cancer

Single nucleotide polymorphisms within RAD51B and TOX3 linked to increased risk

MONDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with an increased risk of male breast cancer have been identified, according to a study published online Sept. 23 in Nature Genetics.

Nick Orr, Ph.D., from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, and colleagues performed a genome-wide association study of 447,760 autosomal SNPs in 823 men with breast cancer and 2,795 controls of European ancestry.

The researchers identified 17 SNPs associated with male breast cancer that mapped to six independent genomic regions. Two variants retained genome-wide significance after further validation in 438 cases and 474 controls: an SNP in RAD51B at 14q24.1 (odds ratio, 1.57) and an SNP within TOX3 at 16q12.1 (odds ratio, 1.50), which confirmed a previous association seen in a smaller study.